Quick Quotes: Vita designer on screen size and working with engineers

“We felt it deserved to be bigger than the 4.3 inch screen on PSP. It’s almost as if we settled on five inches in order to really maximise the same impact that we felt when we first saw it. There was a great deal of discussion and we even talked about using a 5.5 inch screen, but that had a negative impact on the operability of the device. There is always a battle between engineers and designers and I’m not just talking about PlayStation Vita when I say that. I was pushing through this idea of ‘thinner is better’ but I had to be reminded of things like the feature set, processing power, battery life… the overall package. I actually wanted PS Vita to be entirely made of metal but then it was pointed out that this was impossible due to the internal Wi/Fi, 3G and GPRS antennae.” – Vita designer Tokashi Sogabe on the differing perspectives between designing and engineering the handheld.